Some common Health and Safety myths

The TUC has busted the most common health and safety myths including schools banning conkers, safety inspectors banning ladders, acrobats being forced to wear helmets and councils banning St George’s flags.

To coincide with European Health and Safety Week (23 - 27 October) the TUC has published a report correcting 14 false and exaggerated myths and saying that they undermine the important role health and safety regulation plays in protecting people’s health and well-being.

’Health and safety myths’ shows that popular examples of ’health and safety gone mad’ are not down to bad safety law but are either untrue or down to the way that local schools or councils interpret the regulations. Employers will also often use ’health and safety’ as an excuse for not doing something which they didn’t want to do anyway or to save money, says the report.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Myths about ’killer conkers’ and banning ladders undermine the whole concept of health and safety in the public’s eyes. They perpetuate a false picture of Britain as a risk-averse country wrapped in cotton wool with a compensation culture gone haywire.

"Some employers, and others, are using health and safety as an excuse for making stupid decisions, but health and safety regulation in the UK is not out of control.

"The UK today has sensible and practical health and safety laws and we have half as many as we did 35 years ago. But because too many employers are ignoring them and not taking proper care of their staff two million people in the UK are suffering from ill-health as a result of their work."

Myths busted in the TUC report include:

Myth: health and safety regulations ban the use of ladders.

Truth: there is no ban on ladders but there are regulations aimed at ensuring that people use them safely. This is to reduce the number of workers seriously injured or killed falling off ladders every year. On average, 13 workers die this way each year and 12,000 are seriously injured. However, there is no ban on ladders they just have to be secured and used properly.

Myth: firefighter’s poles have been banned on health and safety grounds.

Truth: this seems to have arisen from a case in Devon where it was reported that, to avoid the risk of injury when sliding down poles, a new fire station had not been equipped with a traditional pole. The real reason the fire station did not have a pole was the lack of space. There are no regulations banning the use of poles in fire stations.

Myth: there are now more regulations and red tape than ever.

Truth: there were more than twice as many health and safety regulations and laws 35 years ago than there are today. The legislation that remains is now generally simpler and easier to understand.

Myth: a local authority ordered the removal of St Georges’ flags from outside shops on safety grounds.

Truth: this story originated in Liverpool. The local council did not ban St Georges’ flags or ask anyone to remove them. It did require one shopkeeper to properly secure flags after one fell onto the windscreen of a car causing an accident.

Myth: trapeze artists will be forced to wear hard hats (and Snowdon needs safety signs).

Truth: This myth has appeared several times over the past few years with the ban being blamed on either European law or new Work at Height Regulations. The claim is that these regulations will require trapeze artists to wear hard hats, which is nonsense. Hard hats are worn to prevent workers being hit by falling objects, not to protect people from falls. They are completely inappropriate for trapeze artists and there are no regulations or plans to introduce them. A related story is that the Work at Height Regulations would mean that safety signs would have to be erected on the side of Snowdon, which is also untrue.

Other myths busted in the report include cardboard egg boxes being banned from school craft lessons, small businesses being strangled by inspection, compensation claims rising dramatically and churches being forced to change ’unsafe’ light bulbs.

All of the myths in the TUC report can be seen by visiting an online quiz on workSMART, the TUC’s working life website.